Chiefs try to end 25 years of playoff futility at Arrowhead

Four days ago, the Chiefs celebrated a 25th anniversary that they’d rather not commemorate with silver, or anything else. January 8, 1994. Steelers at Chiefs. Wild-card round. With Joe Montana at quarterback, the Chiefs beat the Steelers in overtime, 27-24, at Arrowhead Stadium. Since then, the Chiefs haven’t won a single postseason game at Arrowhead [more]

Colts ' young, fast, underrated defense to face ultimate test vs. Chiefs . Indy's feisty D has held teams to single digits four times during its current 10-1 run. After passing the test of Houston's stingy defense , sizzling Indianapolis now heads to Kansas City to face the NFL's highest-scoring offense.

Patrick Lavon Mahomes II (born September 17, 1995) is an American football quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL).

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A surprising and stout Indianapolis defense is getting ready to face the toughest test the NFL has to offer when the Indianapolis Colts take on the Kansas City Chiefs in the divisional round of the AFC playoffs on Saturday (4:35 p.m., WTHR 13).

Armed with the NFL’s most devastating weapon — the right arm of Patrick Mahomes — Kansas City finished first in the league in total offense, first in scoring and first in jaw-dropping highlights on ESPN and the NFL Network.

Chiefs roll past Colts 31-13 to reach AFC title game

Patrick Mahomes picked apart the Colts in his postseason debut, the Chiefs defense answered their chorus of critics with a stout performance, and Kansas City rolled to a 31-13 victory over Indianapolis in the divisional round Saturday to end 25 years of playoff frustration. Mahomes threw for 278 yards while running for a touchdown, and Damien Williams ran for 129 yards and another score, as the Chiefs beat Indianapolis for the first time in five playoff meetings to earn their first AFC title game appearance since January 1994.

The Colts defense spent the first half getting carved up by Tom Brady and the bevy of It is hard not to appreciate that he was willing to make the extra effort but these are the kinds of plays NFL The Chiefs ' defense , statistically, is flat out terrible, but is the Colts squad good enough to stop the

Rookie contract hero: The Patrick Mahomes , Tyreek Hill Mahomes , Hunt, and Hill are all rostered via low-cost rookie contracts. Hill will be a free agent in 2020 In 2019, assuming no major extensions are reached, that surplus would grow to nearly million in the face of rising free agent contracts.

Barring something freaky, the Colts’ playoff fate will rest on the ability of its defense to slow Mahomes down enough for Andrew Luck to run by him.

With that in mind, here’s three questions the Indianapolis defense must answer for the Colts to upset the top-seeded Chiefs and reach the AFC Championship Game.

By a quirk of the NFL schedule, the Indianapolis defense has spent two months shutting down the same kind of offense over and over again. In an otherwise pass-happy league, the Colts have faced a long line of offenses that wanted to establish the run, keep pounding away on the ground and ask their quarterbacks to land a few key punches here and there.

Patrick Mahomes sends message to Chiefs fans after elimination

Patrick Mahomes sent a classy message to Chiefs fans not long after Kansas City was eliminated by the New England Patriots 37-31 in overtime of the AFC Championship Game on Sunday night. Mahomes posted a “thank you” note to Chiefs fans on Twitter and promised they would “be back.” Thank you #ChiefsKingdom This hurts now but we will be back love y’all for y’alls support! — Patrick Mahomes II (@PatrickMahomes5) January 21, 2019 Despite the loss,

Patrick Mahomes arrived in Kansas City with a reputation for taking some risks. The Chiefs have mostly coached that out of him, but have left Reid routinely uses a trust test with his quarterbacks, asking them after certain plays during practice or games what he saw from the defensive coverage.

To put the Chiefs ' offensive dominance into perspective, consider that Mahomes threw more We thought since he was a young quarterback we could trick him, but he kind of spread us out. Another member of that defense believes that Mahomes ' performance was less about him and more about

For months, the game plan has been to take away the run and put the ball in the quarterback’s hands.

That’s exactly where Kansas City wants the ball.

Everything revolves around Mahomes, the apparent MVP front-runner after becoming just the third quarterback in NFL history to throw 50 touchdown passes in a season. Kansas City ranked just 23rd in rushing attempts overall and handed the ball off 30 times in a game twice despite playing with a lead all the time.

After rough outings against Sam Darnold, Derek Carr and Blake Bortles in the middle of the season, the Colts have settled down, allowing only one quarterback — New York’s Eli Manning — to throw for more than 300 yards in the past eight games, and Indianapolis held four teams to fewer than 200 yards through the air.

But the Colts also haven’t faced an elite quarterback in that stretch, with apologies to rising Houston star Deshaun Watson.

Pat Mahomes passed his first playoff test with flying colors against the Colts

The Chiefs’ first-year starter never struggled against the Colts, and helped Kansas City break out of a playoff slump at home.

Patrick Mahomes Is Ready to Show Off His Fastball. Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire via Getty Last April, when the Chiefs traded up to draft Patrick Mahomes No. 10 out of Texas Tech, he became With Tom Brady, it was about dissecting the defense . You go through other offenses, and you make

Because Mahomes ’ right arm is Mahomes ’ right arm, and because the Chiefs have been pretty open in their willingness to embrace creativity and explore spread concepts, they have become must-see TV early in the season. And now they get the national spotlight, traveling to Denver to finish Week 4 on

Mahomes and his stockpile of weapons are an entirely different animal.

2. Will Indianapolis be able to force the Chiefs into a few costly mistakes?

Barring a shocking performance, Kansas City is essentially impossible to shut down. While a few of the NFL’s other top offenses fell flat in one game or the other — the Rams against the Bears, the Saints against the Cowboys and Panthers — the Chiefs scored at least 26 points in every single game.

No matter how well the Indianapolis defense plays, Kansas City is going to put some points on the scoreboard.

And that’s where defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus’ season-long emphasis on forcing turnovers must pay off. The Colts tied for 10th in the NFL with 26 takeaways, and Indianapolis forced at least one turnover in every game except one, often saving its game-changing plays for crucial moments against Oakland, Jacksonville, New York and Tennessee.

REPORT: Patrick Mahomes Expected to Sign Record &dollar;200 Million Contract When He Becomes Free Agent

​​Pat Mahomes is expected to have his contract extended after the 2019 season and the way he's played this season has lined him up to make an insane amount of money on his next deal. The ​Chiefs' quarterback could see himself ink the largest contract in NFL history should he continue his high level of play into next year. According to Adam Schefter, Mahomes could sign the NFL's first &dollar;200 million contract when he's able to extend his deal with the Chiefs. His deal is expected to surpass Aaron Rodgers' mega contract that sees the Packers' QB earning &dollar;33.5 million annually.

One of my own personal litmus tests of a player is whether or not they can tackle well, and that is a Patrick Mahomes led the league in touchdown passes, and Luck was second in the league, but it'll The Chiefs ' defense , statistically, is flat out terrible, but is the Colts squad good enough to stop the

Share Patrick Mahomes Week 14 Film Review. For Mahomes to transition from an instinctive adjustment against pressure into a calm delivery is a sign of growth for me. The real test for Mahomes will be continuing to use restraint of this skill set.

Kansas City is a tough team to turn over. Mahomes threw 12 interceptions, and the Chiefs lost just six fumbles as a whole, tied for fourth best in the entire NFL.

If Indianapolis can force the Chiefs to cough it up a couple of times on Saturday, though, that might be just enough for the Colts offense to take advantage.

Indianapolis gave up 103 catches and 1,194 yards to tight ends this season, the worst marks in the NFL, and now they face Kelce, whose 103 catches, 1,336 yards and 10 touchdowns ranked him second among tight ends in all three categories.

The presence of Hill means that Indianapolis likely won’t be able to roll coverage in Kelce’s direction. The Colts rarely gave up big plays this season; Indianapolis allowed 41 explosive pass plays (plays of 20 yards or more), the fifth-best mark in the NFL.

Hill, on the other hand, is one of the NFL’s best deep-ball threats, and the unbelievable strength of Mahomes’ arm makes the speedy wide receiver a threat to create a big play in almost any situation.

Opinion: Patrick Mahomes turns into the exorcist for Kansas City Chiefs in win over Colts

For 25 years now, the Kansas City Chiefs have come up empty, their season cut short before the AFC Championship. But they didn't have Patrick Mahomes.

Patrick Mahomes — by way of 13 touchdowns, zero interceptions, a 3-0 record and the league's top-scoring offense — has become one of the most talked-about players of the young season. It's up to the Broncos to change the tune of that conversation — and that starts with a game plan that will introduce

Even Patrick Mahomes ' agent tried to limit the hype surrounding the young QB this offseason, but now the Chiefs Is Patrick Mahomes NFL's next great QB? 'Secret's out' after record start. Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco runs against Cincinnati Bengals defensive tackle Geno Atkins during

That could leave Kelce open to exploit the middle of the Indianapolis zone. Players like Darius Leonard, Anthony Walker and Clayton Geathers have a tough task in front of them; Kelce is going to get his catches, but the Colts have to keep one of the league’s most athletic tight ends from taking over the game.

Patrick Mahomes gets another crack at defensive mastermind Bill Belichick.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Conventional wisdom would have made Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes out to be a lost puppy wandering in a dark and strange place with a storm about to unleash upon him. That's the sort of helpless situation most young quarterbacks face when lining up against a Bill Belichick-coached defense. Except Mahomes passed his initial test earlier this season, albeit with some early hiccups that gave reason for pause in anointing the 23-year-old as the next great passer and face of the NFL. The Mahomes versus Belichick subplot will play a huge part in the outcome of Sunday's AFC Championship Game at Arrowhead Stadium.

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